New Investor Interested in SFR in Macon, GA. Any advice/contacts?

[Jennifer Teasley]

Hi BP members! I am new RE investor and have been reading and listening to every book and podcast I can get my hands on for several months now but am now wanting to actually take action! I currently live in Atlanta and have been scouring the local market with no success and have started to shift my focus to Macon. I'm a landscape architect and have done some work in Macon so I am somewhat familiar with the city. It seems that downtown has started to come back to life - though it does still have quite a bit of vacancy. The cost of entry there is also SIGNIFICANTLY lower than Atlanta as well! I am mostly interested in A or B class SFR or Duplex buy and hold / BRRR. Wanting to start small and slowly build my portfolio.

Does anyone have advice / a read on the Macon market that you could share? Any areas to avoid or recommend I focus my attention on? Would you recommend looking into student housing? I've run some numbers on a few properties but wanted to get advice and hopefully make make connections with local investors, property managers, contractors, etc. I welcome any and all advice as well as just a hello from other investors in the Atlanta / Macon area! Thanks in advance.